This invention relates generally to the processing of municipal waste, to reduce the amount of material being placed into landfills and, more particularly, to a process by which the reclamation of materials of value from the municipal waste can be enhanced.
While re-cycling of materials of value, including glass, plastic, steel (such as cans) and aluminum, from municipal waste has been done in the past, the process has been generally labor intensive and marginally profitable. Some re-cycling efforts have been started at the home and office, by segregating materials of value to be collected independently of the remaining trash materials, yet participation is irregular and too much municipal waste is still placed into landfills that are overburdened and potential sources of water pollution.
Composting has been used for many years to reduce trash materials into an organic material that can be safely discharged to the ground. Composting has recently been on the increase at municipal sites where large composting vessels and/or static compost piles are being used to reduce the amount of material being deposited into the landfill and to increase the amount of materials being re-cycled. Substantially any organic material can be composted, provided an adequate quantity of carbon material is provided with access to air. Carbon sources include paper, cardboard, grass clippings, leaves, hay, straw, wood chips and sawdust, among many others. Many of these sources of carbon for effective composting is found in municipal waste, particularly paper and cardboard. Accordingly, composting presents an effective process for re-cycling materials and reducing the volume of material being placed into the landfills.
Many other materials of value are still available in municipal waste, despite the efforts to require segregation of such materials at the point of origin. Labor intensive practices will not be cost effective to reclaim these materials of value. Accordingly, an improved process through which a greater amount of materials of value can be reclaimed at a cost effective manner is highly desirable.